Various arrangements are known in the art for securing the inner bearing ring of a bearing assembly onto a rotating shaft. Such arrangements have included shaft engaging set screws and shaft-surrounding locking collars. Such locking collars include locking or tightening means, generally in the form of one or more locking screws. In the so-called SKWEZLOC® arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,537,519 and 4,728,203, the inner ring has finger extensions which, when compressed with a screw operated locking collar, tightly grip and hold the shaft. This finger extension/locking collar combination enhances the concentricity of the inner ring with the shaft and facilitates rotation of the shaft at higher speeds.
Arrangements which utilize shaft-surrounding locking collars, however, have various shortcomings. Inasmuch as the locking collar is a separate component from the inner bearing ring, the locking collar can become separated from the bearing assembly and lost or mislaid. Moreover, if the locking collar is not properly disposed on the inner bearing ring during assembly, the collar may not adequately secure the inner bearing ring to the shaft. For example, if the collar is slightly cocked on the inner bearing as it is tightened, it will align itself after the shaft is rotated. This causes the collar to become loose on the inner bearing, resulting in slippage between the inner bearing ring and the shaft when subjected to radial and/or axial loads. The problems of mounting and retaining such locking collars are compounded if the collar comprises a multiplicity of segments which must be properly positioned and tightened during installation.